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Oil prices steady as U.S.-Iran conflict escalates
Brent crude rises 0.9% to $88.90 a barrel
| Updated:
Key Takeaways:
- Oil prices stabilized after rising earlier, as the U.S. announced more attacks for a ninth straight night.
- “If this escalation goes unchecked, we could return to an environment of wide-scale attacks across the Persian Gulf.”
- Tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has ground nearly to a halt.
NEW YORK — Wall Street is holding steadier July 20, as stocks of chipmakers and other winners of the artificial intelligence boom trim some of their recent losses.
Oil prices stabilized after rising earlier in the day as the U.S. and Iran moved closer to resuming an all-out war. Early July 20, the U.S. announced more attacks for a ninth straight night. Iran has been responding to U.S. strikes by hitting U.S. allies across the Middle East.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil had dropped below $72 early this month, roughly back to where it was before the war with Iran began. But it has been jumping as fighting continues in the Middle East.
On July 20, the price swung sharply between roughly $86 and $91. It was most recently at $88.90, up 0.9%.
“The U.S. and Iran continue to exchange strikes, which are proving to be deadly for both sides,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary July 20. “If this escalation goes unchecked, we could return to an environment of wide-scale attacks across the Persian Gulf.”
Tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil transport, have nearly ground to a halt, adding to pressures on supplies, they noted. On July 20, U.S. gas prices again surged to an average of $4 a gallon.
Hormuz traffic stays constrained
The latest maritime risk data show Strait of Hormuz crossings remained subdued, with only 30 verified transits between 17 and 19 July and continued fragmentation in route selection, reflecting ongoing uncertainty. While the IMO incident tracker… pic.twitter.com/cPJjRUd7bM — Kpler (@Kpler) July 20, 2026
The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, coming off its first losing week in the last three and just its third since the end of March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 186 points, or 0.4%, as of 1:57 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.
Nvidia added 0.9% and helped the market recover some of its losses, swinging back upward after its drop on July 17 was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Sandisk climbed 6.1% after tumbling 29% last week.
Advanced Micro Devices rose 3.5% after announcing an expanded partnership where Microsoft will use its products for AI, including its new Helios product starting in the second half of the year.
Such stocks have been under pressure for weeks on worries that their prices shot too high in the euphoria around AI. On one hand, companies are making billions of dollars in revenue as customers pour money into AI chips and data centers. But all that spending may fizzle out if AI doesn’t produce as much profit and productivity as promised.
Wall Street may get some hints on that soon as some of the biggest spenders on AI report their latest quarterly results. On July 22, Alphabet will tell investors how much it made during the spring and give updates on its AI efforts.
All kinds of companies are under pressure to report strong growth in profit for the spring. They will need to in order to justify the big moves their stock prices have made. Indexes are near their records, even with the recent shakiness for AI stocks.
AMC Entertainment jumped 24.7% after the movie-theater operator reported stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said some of its theaters in Los Angeles and other cities ran “The Odyssey” for more than 85 straight hours July 16-19 to meet demand.
Domino’s Pizza climbed 1.9% after delivering stronger revenue for the spring than expected. CEO Russell Weiner said the company saw growth in orders for both its carryout and delivery businesses, even with the broad industry continuing “to face pressure on consumer demand.”
Another restaurant chain, Jersey Mike's, is beginning its roadshow to raise interest in its stock, which it's planning to sell on the New York Stock Exchange for between $21 and $25 per share in an initial public offering.
Worries about expensive oil and high inflation have sent Treasury yields higher in the bond market, which threaten to slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
Alex Fraser of Cox Fleet discusses how fleets should respond as roadside breakdowns test their safety, compliance and customer service systems all at once. Tune in above or by going to RoadSigns.ttnews.com.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.60% from 4.55% late July 17 and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran. Higher yields have already sent the average 30-year mortgage rate to its highest level in nearly a year.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe.
The moves were sharper in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi fell 4.5%. It’s been at the center of the huge swings for AI stocks because it’s dominated by two tech companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Stocks were stronger in China, where indexes rose 2.4% in Hong Kong and 0.9% in Shanghai.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
